1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to providing call trace information on a packet switched network to users of various network compatible devices, such as telephone sets, personal digital assistants, soft phones and the like.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Support for end-to-end voice calls using the Internet as an alternative to traditional public switched telephone networks (PSTN) is well known. Unlike the PSTN, which is circuit-switched, the Internet is packet-switched; communication on the Internet is accomplished by transmitting and receiving packets of data.
In addition to data, each packet contains an address to ensure that it is routed correctly. The format of these packets is defined by the Internet Protocol (IP).
One type of allowable data is encoded, digitized voice. Voice over IP (VoIP) is encoded digitized voice that is packetized in accordance with IP, and communicated over the Internet for telephone-like communication.
A service provider can off-load branch-office voice traffic from the PSTN and route it across the company's existing packet switched data intranet, thereby eliminating toll charges. In addition, interoffice fax traffic can be routed across a company's data network or through an extranet, using existing fax machines, key systems, Centrexes, and PBXs, making the process of placing calls over the IP network transparent to users.
Users of VoIP devices currently are not provided with call trace information. Such call trace information could be useful in a variety of applications.
For instance, it would be useful for emergency E911 (electronic 911) service to help emergency personnel determine critical information about an IP client in advance of rendering emergency service. Such call trace information would also be useful for tracking down and apprehending prank callers who use VoIP. Even misbehaving IP clients could be identified and reprimanded or shut down by network administrators that have access to such call trace information. In addition, call trace information may serve as critical debugging information to help network servicing personnel determine network faults and the like.
The name and number information of the called party may be linked to address and geographic location information about a called party. If geographic information about the called party of a VoIP call were known to the caller, the caller would then be in a position to know whether the call is costly due to the geographic distance from the called party and whether the call to be placed is being received in a different time zone. If the caller is a retail merchant, geographical information about the called party may be useful in deciding whether to ship certain products to certain geographical zones.
It would be advantageous to provide call trace information to users and/or administrators of network compatible devices. Such users and/or administrators would then be informed about a caller's end-point device in advance of taking some action with respect to that caller or caller's end-point device.